Lock.



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No. 738,739. v Y PATENTED SEPT. 8, 1903.

H. P. TOWNSEND.

LOOK.

-APPLIOATION FILED 00111, 1902.

'No MODEL.

,By his Hfe?- @ya UNITED STATES Patented September. 8|., 1903 fix PATENT EEICE.

HARRY PETOWNSEND, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE CORBIN CABINET LOCK COMPANY, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT,` A

CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

\ LOCK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N0. 738,739, dated September 8, 19073. p l Application iiled October 11,1902. Serial No. 126,883. (No model.)

To allwhomjit may concern.'

Be it known that I, HARRY P. TowNsENn, of New Britain,` in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a Y new and useful Lock, of which the following is a specification. M ylinvention relates to improvements in locksin which the tumblers are brought by the'turning of knobs having dials secured 1o thereto to position to allow the movement of the bolt or bolts for-'unlocking andwhich are known as dial combination-looks.

The object of my invention is to provide a lockof this general class the mechanism of r 5 which will operate to disarrange'itsown tump blers after the `bolt or bolts have `been released or the `receptacle to which" thelockis applied has been opened; and a further ob. ject is to provide a lock of this class which shall be secure against the discovery of its combination. One form of device by which these objects may be attained is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which-'- Figure l is a front view of the door-frame Y z5 or likeopening of a receptacle to which my `lock is applied, the device being shown in its normal Fig. 2 isV aback view of thesame, illustrating the position of the parts with the dials in 3o the same position as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3

is a back `view of the upper part of door andframe with parts in position to allow movement of the bolt.` -Fig. 4; isa back view of the upper part of the door, showing the position of the cam-actuator slide immediately after it has returned the cams to their normal position, with parts broken away to show the construction.` Fig. 5 is a detail view showing the construction of the latch.

4o My invention is shown and described herein in connection with a lock attached to the door of a post-office lock-box, the invention being especially applicable to devices of this i class, although it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its use, but may be applied at the opening of any receptacle which it is desired to close and secure, as by means of a lock. i t

In the accompanying drawings the letter a positionwhen the door is closed.'

the-receptacle to which the frame is applied.

The letter c denotes dials mounted in the front of the door, which dials are provided with knobs d, by means of which the dials are turned. The dials are providedwith any desired form of marking, as graduations lettered ornumbered. In the form of the device herein shown two dials are illustrated; but it is obvious that the invention is susceptible of the employment of any desired number of dials and that these dials may be variously arranged with respect to each other. The letter e denotes the knob attached to the bolt for the purpose of operating the same.

The dials are provided with gears or pinions f g, located on the inner side of the door, a spindle extending from each dial through the door and to which the gears are secured. The gearf is in mesh with a tumblerf, located on a stud f2, secured `to the door, and the gear g is in mesh with a tnmblerg", also securedV upon the same stud f2, but overlying the tumbler f.

Each of the tumblers f and g are provided with notches or recesses in their peripheries and which are adapted to register each with the other.

Each of the gears f and g are provided, preferably on their under surface, with cams h. `The periphery of each cam is formed with faces which incline toward a common centerthat is, a low portion of the cam is approached by a part acting thereon from two directions. In the preferred form of lthe device this cam is of heart shape, and the gear to which the cam is secured being free to turn a body acting on this cam at either .side of the point l will cause the gear to-rotate until the body rests in the pointed recess 2. This form of a cam has been shown herein as the preferred form; but it is obvious that other forms of cams having a plurality of points and pointed recesses and which will accomplish the same general object may be employed and yet come within the scope of the invention.

A camactuator slide t' is mounted on the so that the dials are free to turn.

door, a spring t' being employed to draw the slide for-ward, the slide having a lengthwise movement on the door through the medium of studs, secured to the door, passing through slots i2 in the slide. This slide is provided with cam-actuating projections or dial-actuators j, one of these projections being appur- 'tenant to the cam on each dial-spindle. When the door is closed and this slide is at the backward limit of its play, the cam-actuating projections j are out of contact with the cams, The slide is also provided with a cam-lug Z, arranged in position to engage the door-frame and to force the slide backward as the door is closed.

A bolt-plate mis mounted to slide upon the door and is provided with a bolt n, arranged to enter the notches or recessesin the peripheries of the tumblers f and g' when said recesses or notches are inregistering position. This allows the bolt-plate to be moved back- Ward a distance sufficient to release the latch o from its recess in the door-frame and allow the door to be opened. This latch is mounted on a pivot on a projection m' from the bolt-plate andis normally held in a forwardposition (speaking with reference to the front edge of the door) by spring 0. A bolt-plate spring m2 tends to force the bolt-plate m toward the front edge of the door to cause the latch to engage its recess in the door-frame. This latch is pivotally attached to the upper end of the projection m', its opposite end engaging with a wall in the recess to prevent opening movement of the door. A projection o2 on the latch enters an opening m3 in the bolt-plate and limits the swinging movement of the latch. It will be noted that in the closed position of the door the dials may be turned to any position and will remain in that position until the door is opened-that is, there is no force exerted on the dials to influence their movement from any position to which they have been turned-and where the dial is referred to in the claims herein as having uniniiuenced movement7 this term refers to that condition whereby the dial may be turned to any'position and remain in that position until the door is opened.

The operation of the device is as follows: The parts'being in the position shown in Fig. 2, the dials c are turned to the known positions in the usual manner to bring the tumblers into the position shown in Fig. 3, so that the bolt may be thrown back. The boltplate fm is now pushed back, as by means of the knob e, freeing the latch o from its recess in the frame and allowing the door l to be opened. As soon as the cam-lug Z in this opening movement of the door is freed from engagement with the door-frame the cam-actuated slide 'L' is moved forward under the pull of the spring i. This brings the cam-actuating projections j into contact with the cams h, rotating the dial-gears f and g to such position that the cam-actuating projections rest in the pointed recesses 2 in the heart-shaped cams. It will be noted from this construction that the dials are thus always returned to the same position, and this increases the diiculty of ascertaing the combination of the lock. This action of the cam-actuator slide automatically disarranges 4the combination. As the door is closed the cam-lug l, engaging with the frame of the door, thrusts the camactuator slide backward, freeing the cam-actuating projections from the cams on the dialspindle and leaving the latter to be freely rotated for the purpose of turning the dials to again unlock the door.

The cams for returning the dials to a predetermined position have been shown and described herein as attached to the dial-spindles; but it is obvious that they need not be so arranged so long as they are connected with the dial-spindles in a manner to effect the desired result and return them to a predetermined position.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In combination in a dial combinationlock, a bolt, tu mblers to permit movement of the bolt, a dial for operating atumbler, and positively actin g means for returning the dial to a predetermined initial point from dierent rotative positions of the dial.

2. In combination in a dial combinationlock, a bolt, tumblers for permitting movement of the bolt, a dial operatively connected with a tumbler, and positively-acting means for returning the dial to a predetermined initial point from all of the diiferent rotative positions of the dial.

3. In combination in a dial combinationlock, a bolt, tumblers for permitting movement of the bolt, free-moving dials operatively connected with the tumblers, and positively-acting means for returning the dials to a predetermined initial point from different rotative positions thereof.

4. In combination in a dial combinationlock, a bolt, tumblers for permitting movement of the bolt, free-movingl dials operatively connected with the tumblers, and positively-acting means for returning each dial to a predetermined initial point from all of the dierent rotative positions thereof.

5. In combination in a dial combinationlock, a cam having faces terminating in a tapered recess, and means acting on the cam to return said recess to an initial position from dierent rotative positions of the cam.

6. In combination in a dial combinationlock, a bolt, tumbers for permitting movement of the bolt, a dial operatively connected with the tumblers, a cam operatively connected with the dial and having faces approaching its axis from diiferent directions, and means engaging said cam to operate the dial.

7. In combination in la dial combinationlock, a bolt, tumblers for permitting movement of the bolt, a dial operatively connected with a tumbler, a cam operatively connected with the dial and `having faces approaching its axis from different directions, and means for operating the cam to disarrange the combination.

8. In combination in a dial combinationlock, a bolt, tumblers for permitting movementofthe bolt, a dial for operating said tnmblers, a cam operatively connectedwith the dial `and having cam-faces approaching its axis from dierent directions, a slide to operate the cam, and means for operating the slide.

9. In combination in a dial combinationlock, a bolt, tumblers to permit movement of said bolt, a dial for operating the tumblers, a'cam operatively connected with the dial and adapted to return the dial to an initial point .i from different positions thereof, a slide for mentof the bolt, a dial operatively connected with the tumblers,a cam operatively connected with the dial to return it to an initial `point from different positions thereof, a

slide adapted to operate the cam, means for forcing the slide in one direction, and a proi jection from the slide engaging a cam-surface to force the slidein the opposite direction.

nected with said tumblers,

ll.` Incombination in a dial combinationlock, a bolt, tumblers to permit movement of the bolt, a dial operatively connected with the tumblers, a cam connected with the dial and adapted to return the dial to an initial point from dierent positions thereof, a slide to operate the cam, and means for holding theslide normally out of engagement with the cam. 12. In combination in a lock having operating mechanism including tumblcrs, a freemoving dial, and positively-acting means for returning the dial to a predetermined initial point from dierent rotative positions thereof.

13. In combination in a dial combinationlock, a bolt, tumblers consisting of gears with recesses initheir peripheries for the reception of the bolt, free-moving dials operatively conand positivelyacting means for returning the dials to a predetermined initial point from different rotative positions thereof. 14. In combination in a dial combinationlock, a bolt, a tumbler to permit movement of the bolt, a dial operatively connected withthe tumbler, a cam operatively connected With the dial, and means to engage said cam to operate the dial. HARRY P. TOWNSEND. Witnesses:

G. E. Rootr, W. H. DE WoLFE. 

